Exiles: Kings and Pawns
by Clownwithachainsaw
Summary: A new team of Exiles are formed to spearhead the Multiverse's fight for survival. But the new team has new enemies, and the Multiverse may not have a fighting chance.
1. Meet the Exiles

**_Chapter One; Meet the Exiles_**

Eric O'Grady whistled as he strolled into the Kingpin's offices in Fisk tower. "Wilson, baby." He said, smiling his signature smile and strutting his stuff. "What did I tell you, huh? What did I tell you? If you want something stolen, you come straight to me and I'll deliver."

"Of course O'Grady." The Kingpin said, not smiling back.

"What'd I tell you?" Eric said, placing the vial on the Kingpin's desk. "The name's Impossible Man." He tapped the letter I on his jacket. "For when you need to steal something impossible."

"Yes yes, we're all very impressed." The Kingpin said sourly. "Is this it?"

"Yep." Eric grinned. "Pym particles, stolen straight out of a S.H.E.I.L.D. carrier. If I were you, I'd think about using them to lose some weight."

"Good idea." Dum-Dum Dugan, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., stepped out from behind the Kingpin. One gun trained on him, the other at O'Grady. Eric began to back away towards the door.

"I'm sorry O'Grady." Fisk said.

"If it's any consolation, your record is intact." Dugan said. "You managed to steal the particles and give us the slip real good. Too bad for you, we knew who your employer was."

"Well, at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you almost caught me." O'Grady dove for the door. Only to be rebutted by a man in powered armor. His face went pale. "Ooooh… and you have back-up."

"Nobody steals from us and gets away with it." President Tony Stark advanced, followed by President Hank and Janet Pym, President Rogers, President Banner, the Mighty President Thor, and Vice-President Jones.

"Well… it looks like you're certainly very angry at a certain somebody hiring my services." O'Grady said, pointing at Fisk as he backed away. "I'll… just be leaving." He ran for the window and leaped out, tugging a chord in his jacket.

"Get him!" President Stark yelled as his parachute opened behind him and he floated down. Dum-Dum started firing at him, but O'Grady had anticipated this; the parachute wasn't to slow his falling. It was a Kevlar lined parachute, meant to stop him from getting shot on his way down and to make sure they didn't see what he was doing. He quickly took out his zipline and attached a small explosive to its handle, set to two seconds.

The firing stopped, and he dropped the zipline just as President Rogers leapt down onto his chute. He shrugged himself out of his jacket, letting it fall with the president. The explosion triggered and pressed against the handle of the zipline below. Two chords shot out of it, each attaching to a building on the other side of the street. He grabbed the handle and slid down the chord, smashing through an apartment building window.

He saw President Stark follow, and tore the curtains off their hooks. He tossed them behind him as he ran, covering up President Stark. While he was fumbling around trying to get clear, O'Grady ran for the door, but an enormous hand broke through the walls. It grabbed him, and pulled him out.

"Do you still feel like the big man O'Grady?" President Pym asked.

"Not… so much." O'Grady grunted, trying to squirm his way out.

"Why did you do it?" Pym asked. "You must have known we wouldn't stop until we found you after you stole from my lab. So why?"

O'Grady smiled. "To see… if I could. And… I'd do it… again."

President Thor descended on him. "Eric O'Grady, A.K.A. the Impossible Man. We, the presidents of the United States of America, hereby find you guilty of treason, punishable by death. Do you have any last words?"

"I… voted… for the liberals!" O'Grady yelled.

"Pull!" Thor yelled, and President Pym tossed the Impossible Man into the air. Lightning struck.

* * *

Thanos tossed Nova aside like a ragdoll. "I must say I'm impressed." He said. "When we first met, all those many years ago, you were but a boy. And yet you challenged me. And here you stand, continuing to challenge me through the years. You must know of the futility of it; yet you persist on princicple."

Nova ran at him. Thanos caught the punch, and knocked him aside again. "You have indeed been a worthy adversary. I cannot imagine that pathetic alien Rhomann being capable of choosing a better. But now, alas, it is time for us to part ways forever." He placed his foot carefully over Nova's head. "Goodbye, insect."

Suddenly, the two of them were surrounded by light. "What is this?" Thanos asked.

Nova coughed up blood. "Oh… well you see, while you were duking it out with Nihil after I arranged for the two of you to go to war, I managed to sneak into the controls for your teleportation device. For the past couple of minutes while we've been fighting, I managed to synchronize it with my suit. That last punch I gave you… while it distracted you I slipped a transdisc into your belt, so you could teleport with me. One of my own inventions. We're being teleported over twenty trillion bisecs away right now." The lights faded and space surrounded them again, save for the bright light of the sun. "To the sun of the Oberon system. Which is currently going supernova!"

Nova swung his fists around, battering Thanos. "How does it feel! How does it feel to be beaten by an 'insect'? I bet your girlfriend's thinking a whole lot about you right now! About how she wouldn't be caught dead with you! But don't take my word for it… go ask her yourself!" Nova threw him into the supernova.

Nova paused and caught his breath, then realized he was being pulled towards it too. "No…"

_The gravity pull of the supernova is too dense to overcome._ The worldmind said. _The teleporter has short-circuited. We are going to die. _

"Well thanks. Being the genius that I am, I hadn't already calculate that." Nova said, annoyed. We knew going into this it'd be a one-way trip, and I assumed I'd still be strong enough to escape the event horizon.

_I thought, being a genius, you would have figured a way out by now?_

Nova sighed. "No. Not this time." Nova thought quietly as he plummeted into the dying star. "You know… I think I've just had an epiphany."

_About how to escape?_

"No." Nova shook his head. "You know what I always say?"

_With great power, comes great responsibility?_

"Yeah. My Uncle Ben told me that. I think… I think what he meant to tell me was, the greatest power… is the power to face your responsibilities." The two were silent for a moment, as they watched Thanos burst into flame below them. "You know Worldmind… as talking suits go, you're the best."

_I am not a talking suit. Although, yes, that symbiote was quite a handful, wasn't he?_ The Worldmind went silent. _I am… not sure about human emotion, but… you are an honorable man, Peter Parker. And I cannot think of anybody better, to be the last bearer of the Nova Force._

"That means a lot to me." Nova said, before falling into the star.

* * *

Dr. Doom stood in front of a wall of monitors. "Bring him in." He said.

The door opened, and a pair of doombots came in, dragging Pete Wisdom between them on a chair. The dumped him on the floor and left.

Doom turned. "Peter Wisdom of the magical task force Excalibur. Make your play."

Peter stayed silent.

"Oh come come, I know you have the Staff of One. You're waiting until the opputune moment to bite your cheek. Go ahead. I'll even give you a free shot."

Peter glared at him.

"No? Well then…" Doom's foot lashed out.

"When blood is drawn, the staff of one will emerge." Peter Wisdom said in a trance as the staff came out of his chest. Dr. Doom grabbed it as it came out.

"Thank you Mr. Wisdom. You know, you're really quite predictable. Coming in at the last moment to save the day. It was child's play to bring you here. You, and the staff."

"Excalibur will stop whatever you're doing." Pete said, spitting out blood.

"Well, at least they'll be a member short." Doom held up the staff. _"Diem Noctes Fratunas!"_

* * *

Rachel McKenzie sat fishing by the lake near Xavier mansion. She enjoyed the cool summer breeze and the peaceful serenity of the lake.

"Ahem."

She opened her eyes and sat up. A swarm of sentinels floated over the lake, led by Sebastion Shaw. "Good day miss Mariner." He said jovially. "I was just on my way to eradicate mutant kind. Since you're the first mutant, I was wondering if you'd like to be the first to die."

Rachel reached into her purse and pressed the silent alert button. The X-men would be here within minutes and the rest of the school would go into the bunkers. "Listen." She said, glaring at Shaw. "My father was a fisherman. He'd take me along with him in the trawler and I'd help him clean the fish." She stood up, taking out a bowie knife. "I'm telling you this, because when I tell you that if you or your little toys move one inch forward I'll gut you like a fish, I want you to know that it isn't. Hyperbole."

Shaw grinned. And motioned to a sentinel. "MK IV, full firepower if you please." The Sentinel's armor opened up, revealing a massive array of guns.

* * *

Professor X adjusted his instruments. "How's he doing?" Kane asked.

"Not well." The Professor said. "I told you I had reservations. This… Wyatt McDonald… he was washed up before he got here. Former navy seal, dishonorable discharge, and you found him driving a taxi, begging to get back in the life."

"But how's he doing?" Kane asked, persistently.

The professor sighed. "Well if he had another mutant power we could probably work with him, but adjustable vision? And he insists on using a bow instead of a gun. Any gun. We went ahead with project Black Archer like you wanted, but really, he's a lost cause."

"What happened?"

"He failed to assassinate the target. We thought it was just a fluke, but he failed again. I've had a psychic in. It turns out, he wants to join the Squadron Supreme. He wants to leave us."

Kane tutted. "That won't do. He knows too much about weapon X. Can he be brainwashed?"

"That's not viable. Today's technology can reverse it. Too much risk."

Kane nodded. "Then the answer is clear. Terminate the project."

* * *

The Mask wandered through the crystal hallways. "Hello!" She called. "Any transdimensional beings here?" She moved into a large hallway.

"Who's that?" Nova turned around the corner. "Who are you?"

"They call me, the Mask." The Maks took off her broad hat and did a sweeping bow. "And who are you?"

"I'm Nova." They shook hands. "Do you know where this is? I was… falling into a supernova."

"And I was executed by a god of lightning." The Impossible man walked down the corridor to meet them. "Hi, I'm the Impossible man."

"Fascinating." The Mask said, looking at the two. "My own universe has a Nova and an Impossible man too, but neither of you are them. It appears that my theory about multiple realities are correct. And you both maintain that you are… dead?"

"And so am I." Rachel said, descending a staircase. "So… is this heaven?"

"If it is, I've made the greatest theological breakthrough since jesus was crucified." The Mask bowed again. "I am the Mask. I came here via a device that I thought would take me through dimensions."

"That's dangerous." Pete Wisdom said. "You shouldn't mess with things beyond your comprehension."

"You'd be surprised at what I can comprehend." The Mask said. "Am I to understand that you are in charge here?"

"If he is, than he's getting us out of here." The Black Archer pointed his bow at him. "Or he gets an arrow through his skull."

"That won't be necessary." A tall grey figure walked into the room. "My name is the Timebroker. And, I suppose I am in charge."

"Then get us out of here!" The Black Archer yelled, his bow shaking as it pointed at the Timebroker.

"Allow me to make the introductions." The Timebroker pointed to each of them in turn. "Wyatt McDonald, former navy seal, former taxi driver, and currently serving as the Black Archer. Eric O'Grady, the Impossible Man, thief of the highest caliber. Peter Parker, Nova, the sole member of the Nova Corpse in his dimension, possessor of the Nova Force and the Worldmind. Peter Wisdom, agent of Excalibur, the United Kingdom's magical task force. Rachel McKenzie, the Mariner, her world's first mutant. And, lastly, Glorianna Stark, the Mask."

He walked into the center of the chamber. "You are all currently in the M'Kraan crystal, the nexus of all reality. Through this palace, you can access every possible multiple universe. And you must. I have taken you five from your respective universes moments before your death… and Glorianna as well. You will be sent through the Multiverse, fixing divulgences in realities. You will be Exiles."


	2. Commandos, prt 1

**_Chapter Two; The Rotten Snowflake_**

**_Commandos Part One_**

"What… what if we don't want to be a part of your team?" The Black Archer licked his dry lips. "What if we just want to go home?"

"Do you truly wish to go back home?" The Timebroker asked. "Where you are murdered in your sleep?"

"Come on Archer, who couldn't pass up on an opportunity like this?" Mask asked. "We get to see hundreds of alternate realities… more than we can count! Think of the adventure!"

"Not just the adventure." Nova said. "The Timebroker said whole worlds are at stake. If we don't help, they'll be destroyed. So put down the bow." He turned to the Timebroker. "How can we help?"

The Timebroker reached out and a watch appeared on Rachel's wrist. "This is the Tallus." He said. "It will take you to the worlds you need to save, and it will instruct you on what to do. Your instructions will be different on each world."

"Why's that?" The Mask asked.

The Timebroker stroked his chin. "Most people have… the wrong idea about alternate realities. They believe that when they make a choice, there is an alternate reality where he made the opposite choice that branches off from it. This is a false assumption. If this were true, mankind would have no free will."

He gestured, and a shining snowflake appeared in the room. "This is the multiverse." He said. "A theoretical snowflake arranging an infinite number of worlds into 196,833 points. Every time somebody makes a choice, he doesn't make another reality; the reality already existed. Here," He pointed at a small tip of the snowflake. "The worlds in this tip of the snowflake have been wethered and beaten and rearranged, but they endure, thanks to the efforts of heroes possibly greater than any in the multiverse." His finger shifted. "Here on this tip, a mad man with a box travels through time to ensure the safety of earth. The worlds on this tip are flat, carried on the backs of four giant elephants, themselves on the back of a giant space turtle. On this tip, Irish geniuses and fairy folk, on this tip, the superhumans of the world declare themselves the authority, on this tip, machines enslave humanity. Each tip of the snowflake has its own designs for the worlds it contains."

"Pretty." Impossible Man said. "But where are you going with this?"

"The snowflake is made up of worlds spinning in a precise order." The Timebroker said. "If one of the worlds spin off kilter, it throws off the rest. To throw off a world's spin, you need merely to disrupt one if its universal laws. i.e.; Good is greater than Evil."

"A long time ago, a group of transdimensional travelers accidentally prevented a child from being born that would have prevented a total apocalypse on that world. This started the chain reaction which is causing the multiverse's current collapse. Good universe succumbed to apocolypse and universes where evil already prevails only got worse." He gestured to one of the longer tips of the snowflake. It was rotten; a large portion of the worlds in the tip were black, and it looked like it was going to fall off at any second. "The laws are changing; evil is starting to prevail. If this continues, the worlds will spin into each other; spiraling out of control, shattering each other, until only a single worlds remains. These worlds will attract new worlds to them and form a new snowflake, but the laws will be changed, evil will triumph over good, and the loss of life both during and after the event will be massive."

"Woah." Pete Wisdom sat down.

"I'm feeling completely overwhelmed." Rachel said.

"How can we stop this?" Nova asked.

The crystals that made the walls suddenly came to life, showing multiple pictures of heroes. Each crystal showed six of them. Numbers hovered above them. "There are multiple teams of Exiles. Just the six of you aren't enough to police an infinite number of worlds after all. Some teams handle little tasks; stopping a child from taking drugs, getting an important man and woman to say 'I do', the things that seem inconsequential, but save the worlds. Other teams handle the darker tasks; killing a child before he grows up to destroy the world, assassinating a political figure before he makes a mistake. The six of you will be fighting villains, ensuring their schemes will come to naught. Essentially what you did in your old lives. It will be difficult; we already have Exiles trying to stop the cancer from progressing. What we ask of you, is to go to worlds already rotten and fix them. Look to the Tallus and it will tell you what to do."

"Alright." Nova clapped his hand. "What are we waiting for then? Send us off."

"First I must have a moment alone with the Mask."

The Timebroker took her aside down a hallway. The Black Archer jumped down off of his balcony to join the others. "Am I the only one who sees this as wrong?" he asked. "We're being press ganged into this suicide mission!"

"You call this a suicide mission?" The Impossible man laughed. "You've obviously never tried to steal something from an Asgardian. Try spending five days hidden from super-beserkers all around you, praying you'll get off of Asgard alive with your swag, and then you tell me this is suicide."

"Nobody's press ganging me." Nova said. "I'm glad I was granted a longer life. The fact that I get to save reality is just a bonus."

"Some bonus." The Black Archer snorted. "Listen kid, I'm a professional hitman for a shady corporation, so let me tell you how these things work. The shady corporation in question, (that would be the Timebroker) gets some kind of dirt on you. Then, he holds it over you until the end of your life. Which will probably be a whole lot shorter now that we've agreed to do this thing."

"No, let me tell you how it works." Nova said, face to face with him. "Good people, do good things, for the sake of being good."

"Oh wow." The Black Archer said. "Wow. I cannot believe it. Just how naïve are you?"

"Only naïve enough to beat back six alien races bent on invading the planet at the same time." Nova said. "I'm sure you're good at killing people, but I happen to be a pretty good judge of character."

"He's right though." Pete Wisdom said. "When he took me, I was in the middle of a case. How am I going to stop Dr. Doom from ruling my world now?"

"Easy." The Impossible man smirked. "Doom won't win. In case you didn't hear Mr. Timebroker, there are two possible explanations. First; your world is safe and good will always win. Second; your world is part of the cancer that's destroying the pretty snowflake, and a team of Exiles will be popped on over to fix it up."

"He's right." Nova said. "There's no reason to worry Mr. Wisdom."

"Of course there is." The Black Archer said.

"No, there isn't." the Timebroker reentered the room with the Mask. "You were all taken from clean worlds so you'd have a better chance of victory."

"Oh that's right." The Black Archer said. "We're going into worlds where the bad guys can win. Tell me, what's the mortality rating of your Exiles?"

"There have been… some deaths." The Timebroker admitted.

"There's really no need to worry." The Mask said. "Think of the adventure."

"Easy for you to say. You came here of your own free will, and you have an easy lifeline back home."

"Actually I don't anymore." It was pretty hard to read her face under her mask, but Nova would have bet she was glaring. "The Timebroker and I agreed that it was too risky to leave lying around. Somebody might break the multiverse again. Now, stop being a baby and enjoy the ride."

The Tallus began blinking on Rachel's arm. "Uh…" She tapped it. "What am I supposed to…"

* * *

Suddenly, the six of them were in a long tunnel of technicolored lights. The lights slowed to a stop and they arrived on the world.

The Black Archer threw up. "That was… something." Nova said.

"Guys." Pete Wisdom was holding his head between his hands. "People have died here. Lots of people."

"You can see dead people?" Rachel asked.

"I'm a medium, yeah." Pete said.

"Well, I can see our 'adventure' is off to a fine start." The Black Archer mumbled.

"What does the Tallus say Rachel?" Nova asked.

She checked. "It says... to keep the Avengers alive. They're going to fight something tomorrow, and they're going to lose. Unless they win, the world will be destroyed."

Pete turned around, eyes wide. "Guys, hide." They ducked into the bushed and a van drove by. The van was packed with armed soldiers, and there was a swastika painted on the side.

"Nazis." Nova breathed. "We've come right into World War Two.

They waited patiently as it drove by. "Alright, what do we do?" Rachel asked the Impossible man.

"Well, now we…" He trailed off into silence and sighed. "Alright, whoever you are sneaking up on us, come on out."

There was an audible snikt, and the Black Archer and Peter Wisdom felt three bloody bone claws pointed to their necks. The claws in question belonged to a grizzly soldier with wild hair. "Alright bubs." He growled. "You don't smell like krauts, so don't yell, and don't make any sudden moves. And maybe if you answer my boss's questions honestly, he'll let you live."

The Black Archer whimpered. "I told you this was suicide. Told you."


	3. Commandos, prt 2

**_Chapter Three; The Avengers of World War II_**

**_Commandos Part Two_**

As they walked, Nova asked the Worldmind to form a profile of the soldier leading them. As he'd already suspected, it was Wolverine, World War 2 flavored. And, as he'd suspected, they'd be gutted the moment they gave him a reason to. Nova just prayed his teammates were smart enough to realize that.

Black Archer was doing some praying of his own. They were led into an old abandoned barn. It was pretty dark inside, and most of them could only see the light from the glowing tip of the cigarette and a pair of hands shuffling cards for a game of solitaire in the one patch of light.

Pete could see more than that though. The man in the shadows had only one eye. His dog tags said Nick Fury, and his badge said Howlers under a picture of a menacing looking wolf. As he laid down his card for the next game, Pete realized he wasn't alone. Behind him were several men, all wearing the same badge. All Howlers. All ghosts. Pete shivered involuntarily.

When he interrogated them, Rachel realized that the other soldier kept slightly nodding his head, or shaking it after each question. She figured he must be able to sense lies, and was giving the man in the shadows a signal. Thankfully, he only shook his head twice. But twice was enough.

Fury took a long breath of air through his cigarette. "So. I've decided that you aren't lying." He said. "For the most part. But I don't trust you." He stood up. "If you really are here to protect the Avengers… then fine. We're going on a raid tomorrow of the nearby Castle Hamlind. It's occupied by German forces, and from what are best spies can tell us, they're working on something that could potentially be more disastrous than Pearl Harbor or Dieppe." He stepped into the light. "Apparently, more than one world rests on the Avengers coming out of this one alive, so you can come along. Do what you can to protect them. But until then, you stay in chains." He nodded at Howlett. "Take them to the cellar. And remember; if just one Avenger falls tomorrow, I will make it my mission in life to hunt you down and kill you."

The Exiles were led into a wine cellar connecting the barn to the farmhouse. "I think that went rather well." Impossible Man said.

"Went well?" Black Archer said. "I'm pretty sure that was the opposite of 'went well'! He wants to kill us, I just know it!"

"Be quiet." Nova said.

"Yes, please do." The team realized they weren't alone. Six people were in the cellar with them, in various costumes. The one that had spoken was a scrawny man in tattered clothes working intently at fixing a clock. On the wall opposite to where they sat, a broad shouldered man wearing a flame red costume underneath his lab coat was grinning, bemused. Next to him sat a girl with a similar costume, except it was light blue. In a corner of the cellar, a giant navy blue robot sat staring at them.

"Hello." Impossible man said.

"How's it going?" The robot answered.

"Sssssh!" The skinny man hissed.

"Sorry." Impossible Man apologized. "So… who's in charge here?" He asked in a whisper.

"That would be me." A man in a red white and blue uniform walked out from behind the wine racks, followed by a giant of a man, wearing Greek armor and carrying a battleaxe in one hand and an assault rifle with his other.

"I, am Le Patriot." The man in red white and blue said quietly. "I am the leader of the Avengers. Who are you?"

"We're the Exiles." Nova said. "I'm Nova. This is Impossible Man, Black Archer, Peter Wisdom, Rachel McKenzie, and the Mask. We're here to protect you."

The man in the lab coat straightened up and put down the bottle of wine he was sharing with the girl. "And what makes you think we need protecting?"

"The Tallus said so." Rachel said, indicating to the Tallus.

"To put it simply, we're interdimensional travelers on a mission to save worlds." Nova said. "And for one reason or another, we think that if you die tomorrow your entire world will be… destroyed. To put it simply."

"Mon dieu." Le Patriot muttered stroking his goatee. "Truly?"

"Yeah, it's true." The large man next to him said. "I've felt something odd for the past couple of days, I just didn't want to get you guys on edge. It'll all come to a head tomorrow, and if you guys are nervous it'll be that much easier to lose." He sniffed. "Why're you guys in chains?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The scrawny man asked, still engrossed in his clock. "Fury doesn't trust them. Nor do I. Parallel universe theory is far too complex to be possible."

"I've always thought the complex things in life are the ones most real." The Mask said, dreamily.

The man looked up. "Nonetheless, Fury doesn't trust you." A gear fell out of place and he rushed to put it back in.

"He would have trusted us if Archer here hadn't lied." Rachel said. "Why did you tell him you were in the army?"

"First key of survival; if it's intelligent it can be reasoned with, and if it can be reasoned with, try to place it on your side."

"He was already on our side you paranoid freak." Rachel's voice began to rise. "Just because you think everybody in the world is a horrible person, doesn't mean it's –" She froze, Le Patriot's sword against her throat.

"I would advise you to be silent dear girl." He said, lowering it. "Bloomburg hates noise while he tinkers, and it would be bad for all of us if he were to get angry now. You wouldn't like him when he's angry." He put his sword away. "Regardless, if what you say is true, than I trust you. Avengers." He turned and talked to his team. "Tomorrow, we will face the fight of our lives. This isn't just a fight against the Nazis anymore. If we lose tomorrow, then our whole world will be destroyed. And I don't plan on letting that happen."

"Hear hear." Bloomburg muttered.

Le Patriot put his hand forward. "For France." He said.

The robot put his hand in. "For America."

The man in the lab coat followed. "For Canada."

Then the girl. "For Britain."

Bloomburg raised his hand without looking up. "Austria." He muttered.

The giant put his hand in. "For the Swiss, not that they need it. And hey, Patriot, not that this isn't cool or anything, but it would be more effective as a rousing gesture before battle, not just before lights out."

They looked around. "You're right." Le Patriot said. "We'll do it tomorrow. Snow, get our guests some food."

They all went back to where they were. The man in the lab coat walked up to them. "Hello." He said. "My name's Hank McCoy. You can call me the Human Torch. I'm the Avenger's resident scientific mind." The girl came back with a tray of food. "And this is my fiancée, Janet Van Dyne. Also known as Snowqueen."

"Charmed." She said, giving them all some food through their manacled hands. "I'm sorry we don't have much. We are in the middle of a warzone."

"That is so interesting." Rachel said. "In my dimension, you're blue, and furry, and my chemistry teacher. And Janet's married to Ant-man."

"Ant-man?" Janet asked. "Who's he?"

"Hey." Impossible man said. "Keep quiet about your dimensions guys, we don't need to give these guys any wild ideas. In my dimension, the Avengers became presidents and tried to kill me. Now, I don't know about you but I don't want that happening here. So let McCoy and Janet live their lives, don't even mention any other possibilities."

"Sorry." She muttered.

"It's okay." Janet said. "We have no plans to take over the world. And I already know my Hank's the man for me." They exchanged happy looks.

"So, who else is on the Avenger team in this dimension?" Pete Wisdom asked.

"Well…" Hank pointed at Bloomburg. "You've already met Robert there. He was a Jewish clock maker in Austria, and he was rounded up into a prison camp. They were experimenting with mutants and gamma down there and… they made him into the Hulk."

"Oh…" Nova nodded understandingly. "So, he gets mad he gets strong?"

"Exactly." Hank said. "Caused a disaster in Dieppe. Poor planning, everybody expecting us superheroes to take up the slack, and we're forced into a now-show because of the Hulk. He's on our side now. He's… a little broken. Always obsessed with his clocks, and finding out how things work. In some ways his analytical mind is exactly what the Avengers need, but in others it makes it easier for him to get upset."

"So, who's Le Patriot?" Nova asked.

"Ah… we don't know." Hank said with a shrug. "He's basically a key player in the French resistance, but we don't know his origin or his name. Some say he was a swordsman for a French circus who saw the Nazis kill his father. Some say he was part of a French super soldier program, but a spy killed the head scientist before a second volunteer could be found. Some say, that he was raised by wolves until he was found by a martial artist living in the woods. All we know for sure is, he's a savage fighter, skilled swordsman, and master strategist. The man's a legend."

"And the guy he's talking to?" Pete asked.

"That's Ares, the Greek god of war." Snowflake said. "Literally. He came down from Olympus to help us win this war."

"And that leaves…" Hank gestured to the robot. "The Titan. His name's Ben Grimm. He was a pilot. But he got shot down during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, his friend is big shot scientist Reed Richards. Richards managed to save his life, and at his request he built him a suit of armor so he could keep fighting in the war."

"That's amazing." Rachel said.

"We are a pretty unique group." Hank said, smiling. "And so are you. I was hoping you could answer a few questions? About the multiverse?"

"Doesn't exist." Robert said, tightening a gear. "The pieces wouldn't fit together. Impossible."

The Human Torch and the Mask spent the next several hours discussing parallel dimension theory. Robert interrupted at some points, to remark at the impossibility of it all. Nova joined in too, making a few points about it and then warning them that they couldn't use this knowledge or else they may create another rift in reality (to which Hank heartily agreed). Then Logan came down to tell them it was nightfall and to get some rest.

Black Archer woke up in the middle of the night. He looked around curiously, then realized Impossible Man was up. "hey!" He whispered. Impossible Man spun around, pressing his finger to his lips. Black Archer nodded, then whispered. "How did you get out of your handcuffth?" He made sure to pronounce the 's' with a lisp. S was the loudest letter in the alphabet.

Impossible Man crept up to him. "I wath never in." He whispered. "I'm a profethional thief. Handcuffth are the leatht of what I deal with." He looked around. "Alright, I need thomething from you." He said.

"What do you need?" Black Archer asked.

"I need you out of the fight tomorrow." He said.

Black Archer blinked in surprise, then grinned. "You won't hear me complain. But why?"

"You're gonna be the athe up our thleeve." Impossible Man whispered. He began to move away. Black Archer grabbed his arm.

"How are you going to get patht the tholdier? I think he hath thuper hearing."

"Let me worry about him." Impossible Man said. "Jutht thtay out of the fight until I give you the thignal."

"What are you gonna do?"

Impossible Man grinned. "I'm going to change the game."


	4. Commandos, prt 3

**_Chapter Four; Changing the Game_**

**_Commandos Part Three_**

Private Kruger had heard tales about the Red Skull. He'd heard that he ignored all codes of war. He fought dirty, he fought hard, and he fought to win. He respected that in a man. So when Baron Zemo had asked for somebody to send for him, he'd jumped at the chance to meet him.

He knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Herr Skull!" He called. He weighed his options, and decided the Skull would probably like a man who took action. "Herr Skull?" He opened the door.

The first thing he saw, was that the door was soundproof. The second thing he saw, were the skulls hanging on the walls as trophies, dog tags burnt into the bones on their forehead. And then, he saw the tripwire he'd tripped.

Herr Kruger looked up and screamed, as a bucket of molten lead fell on his head. He felt his skin burn and his tears dry as he choked on the lead flowing down his throat.

The man on the bed shifted, and yawned amidst the screaming. He sat up in bed, his feet dangling off the edge and slipping into his real human leather slippers. He walked groggily past the screaming private and picked up his herbal tea. The private panicked and ran out the window, crashing through the glass and falling out of the tower and into the moat.

The Red Skull walked slowly to the window, sipping his tea. He took a deep breath of fresh air as he listened to the private's screams as he was devoured by any number of the various exotic flesh-eating creatures he'd stocked the moat with. "What a wonderful way to start the morning." He said, before shutting the shattered window and putting on his robe. He took his machine gun out from under his pillow. It was based off of one of Baron Zemo's early failed designs, modified by him to cause the maximum amount of damage. It used specially modified bullets, that cost seventy pounds each to be custom made by the Swiss. It used a magazine of sixty bullets. It cost fourty two hundred pounds to fire it until it was empty. He found it gloriously extravagant, and considered a few potshots at the man that just fell out of the window. He wasn't dead, he could still hear the screaming. He checked the clip, and was surprised to find it was empty. He frowned, and decided to get dressed.

* * *

Baron Zemo and Ambassador Zeng were waiting for him in the armory. "Can somebody get me some bullets from the stockroom?" He yelled.

Zemo signaled for somebody to do as the Skull ordered. "I hope you didn't spend them all on Private Kruger." He said with disapproval.

The Red Skull brushed past them both. "How is Project Ubermensch?" He asked.

"All proceeding according to plan." Zemo said. "Herr Skull, Ambassador Zeng is here on behalf of the Japanese to –"

"Can they be ready at a moment's notice?" He asked.

"Yes, Herr Skull." Zemo said, impatiently. "Ambassador Zeng is –"

"And the tanks?" Red Skull moved to Zemo's modified tanks. "Are they ready?"

"Yes, Herr Skull, all outfitted with laser weapons like my pistol as you asked. Now –"

"Skull." Zeng said, interrupting Zemo. "Where are you going with this line of questioning?"

"Show me the power matrix." Skull ordered.

Zemo sighed, and went to open the side panel and reveal the reactive core to his laser design. He pulled back the panel and gestured for the Skull to see.

He growled and took out a knife, stabbing the nearest soldier and taking his radio. "Attention!" He yelled into it. "We have an intruder on the base. We have an intruder! I want him found! I want him brought to me alive! A promotion to the one who finds him, and the first one to remove one of his extremities! Be careful, he is carrying reactive materials, so be cautious with your bullets!"

Zemo looked into the chamber and almost fainted. It was empty.

Skull grabbed Zemo by the collar and lifted him off the floor with one hand. "After I deal with this intruder, you will be next unless you replace the matrix on these and get Project Ubermensch ready for a fight!"

* * *

All through the fortress, Nazi soldiers scrambled to the closest armory and grabbed their weapons. Private Brohnson was interrupted in the middle of his breakfast to yell the Red Skull's instructions through the comm. system.

Impossible Man heard the claxon and the shouting and grinned. "Showtime." He adjusted his Nazi uniform and picked up his loot bag. After his first heist, he thought it would be amusing to have a large expandable burlap sack made with a dollar sign on the side. He called it his loot bag.

He walked out into the open, strutting as calmly as he could to the East tower. About a third of the way there, somebody stopped and turned around and yelled at him to stop. He turned, smiled, waved, then kept on walking. The soldier barked something in German and ran towards him, followed by everybody else in the courtyard.

"Game on." He ducked inside the tower's door as bullets started flying, and locked the door behind him. He ran up the tower, pressing two fingers against his neck to check his breathing. The door was rammed open, and the soldiers started following him up the stairs. He looked down, and ducked back as they started shooting up. "Well, I may be a bit rusty on my German, but didn't it say alive? And maybe limbless?"

He reached the top of the tower and checked his watch. He'd made good time. He checked the doors on either side of the hallway and went into the one that was open. It was a kitchen and he picked up a knife and gestured for the cooks to get out. They ran, yelling, and he moved to a window.

"Halt!" The soldiers piled into the room and pointed their guns at him. He held his loot bag in front of him like a shield.

"Put, down the bag!" One of the soldiers yelled.

"Oh, you can speak English?" The Impossible man opened the window behind him. "Well, tell your men I'm not afraid of them, so they can put their guns down."

"Drop the reactors!" He yelled.

"What?" The Impossible Man raised a sly eyebrow. "These aren't the reactors."

He turned the bag upside down and poured out its contents. Every, single, bullet, that he could find during the night he'd spent there, poured out onto the floor. The soldier paled and pressed the trigger of his gun, only to find that the man in front of him didn't drop dead. The soldiers on all sides of him checked their ammunition clips, only to find out they were empty. The Impossible Man, on the other hand, checked his watch.

"Now the reactors… they are in the tower's basement." He said. "Wired to plastique. Set to go off. In two… one…"

The soldier who understood English took out his knife and threw it in a blind panic. Impossible Man didn't flinch as the tower shook and the knife buried itself in the wall next to him. He ducked out of the window and onto the ledge as the tower slowly collapsed. He laughed like a madman as the tower tilted and he hung on by his fingertips. He felt the wind fly through his hair and looked to his left. One of the soldiers was trying to climb out after him. He gave him a wink, and pushed off of the tower. He grabbed a phone wire, and as the tower landed on it the end snapped off. Impossible man rode the wire like Tarzan on a vine, crashing through a window. Private Brohnson's eyes widened as he watched the tower fall and Impossible man swing toward him. He tried to duck out of the way, but Impossible Man came crashing through the window, knocking him out the other side and into the moat.

"Exactly as planned." Impossible Man said, brushing himself off and taking off the Nazi disguise. He looked to his side. "Oh, better than planned. Breakfast." He slid off the rest of the disguise and sat down at the comm. station, picking up an apple. He pressed the 'on' button. "Hello and Hiel Hitler from the Impossible Man to all you Nazi slime. That's right. This is the Amerikaner. I'm in ur base, lol. Why don't you make this a little challenging and come and get me?" He turned the comm. off and laughed. "Biggest rush I've had since I stole the Ultimate Nullifier."

* * *

Sergeant Howlett burst into the cellar. "Rise and shine ladies! Something's going down!"

The Avengers and the Exiles scrambled. When they reached the hillside, they heard the claxons. "Where's that guy… the Impossible Man?" Nick Fury asked.

The Exiles exchanged looks. "Must have left during the night." Black Archer said.

"So you are Nazi spies." Fury growled, pulling his knife on them. "And they're mustering their troops for a fight as we speak. Well, we may have lost the element of surprise, but we can still –" Suddenly, they heard an explosion. They turned, and saw the East tower collapse. "What the…"

"He's on the tower!" Black Archer said. "No way! He's riding the tower down and… and…" The tower collapsed on the fortress's drawbridge, filling the front of the moat with rocks and rubble.

They were silent for a moment. "No… nobody could survive that." Nova said quietly.

"He must have tried to weaken their defenses." Pete said. "Before we went in."

"Man…" Hank said, as Janet buried her face in his chest. "That's…"

"Oh, don't worry. He's alive." Howlett said.

"You're sure?" Fury asked.

Just then, Impossible Man came out on the wall with a megaphone. "Hey!" He yelled. "Over here! Come on guys, I opened the door for you! Why don't you crash the party already?" He ducked down, and disappeared as a cannonball obliterated the spot on the wall where he was standing.

"Yeah." Nova said, relieved. "He's alive."

Fury's grin slowly widened. "Well… you heard the man!" As Pete watched, the ghosts surrounding Fury all gathered inside of him, until they were a single luminous being. "Let's crash this party!" Fury let out a fearsome howl, and ran towards the castle at breakneck speed. Sergeant Howlett let out a similar battle-cry, and ran after him loyally. The Avengers looked at each other and gather in a circle.

"France." Le Patriot put his hand in.

"America." The Titan.

"Canada." The Human Torch.

"Britain." Snowflake.

"Austria." The Hulk.

"Switzerland, not that they need it." Ares hefted his axe.

"TAG!" All five of them hit Robert at the same time, then ran towards the castle (Titan and Snowqueen flew). Robert lied on the ground in pain, when suddenly his muscles began to swell.

"Hulk's It!" Pete ran for the castle with the Avengers.

"Let's go kick some Swastika!" Nova grabbed Rachel and flew to the castle.

The Mask turned to a tree. "Are you going to join us?" She asked with disgust in her voice.

The Black Archer looked out from behind the tree, his legs shaking. "I'm good here, thanks." He ducked back behind the tree. The Mask sighed and disappeared. The Hulk got to his feat, a golden mass of muscle. He roared and leaped after the heroes.

The heroes all raced down to the castle, ready to save the world or die trying.


	5. Commandos, prt 4

**_Chapter Five; Step Two_**

**_Commandos Part 4_**

The Red Skull glared at Zemo as he worked furiously. It was a glare of tranquil fury, masking the rather intelligent thoughts running through his head. "We are dealing with somebody who can walk through walls." He said silently.

"Walk through solid walls?" Zeng asked. "Ridiculous."

"Think Herr ambassador." The Skull said. "He was able to bypass the locks keeping the power matrix' in place, and sneak into my private quarters and remove the ammunition from my gun without tripping my lead trap or waking me up. No ordinary man can do that. I think, given the fact that we work around the impossible every day, a man who can walk through solid objects in no far stretch of the imagination, and even a logical conclusion given the facts."

"And yet, though it seems impossible, the man you are looking for is simply a very good thief." A voice with a thick Russian accent said. "I am the one who can walk through walls."

"Show yourself." The Red Skull ordered.

"I have no intentions of doing that." The voice said. "We both know that just because you are out of ammunition, you aren't disarmed. No, I'm here to offer my two cents of help and inform you of the stakes of today's little fight."

"The stakes?" The Red Skull asked.

"Yes. You see, those strangers are from parallel universes. They are here to ensure that you lose this war. And if you lose today, you will. This is your turning point. Win or Lose today, and you will win or lose the entire war."

The Red Skull growled. "And win or Lose, I will do so without your help specter. Be gone before I find a way to kill you." He waited for a response, and none came. He pulled out a pen and wrote instructions on a piece of paper, showing them to Zemo.

He gasped. "But sir…"

"Don't question my orders." Skull said. "Do it. And make sure this note cannot be read by any voyeurs."

"How am I supposed to…" Zemo gagged as the Red Skull scrunched the instructions into a ball and stuffed them down Zemo's throat.

"Swallow!" He yelled fiercely. "And then do as I have ordered. Fortunately for you, the Fuehrer is still under the impression that you are indispensible. Comply with my instructions and you will live. Fail to do so, and you will become… less than indispensible." He walked out of the room. "Herr Zeng, come with me. We are going to kill the Avengers."

Zeng followed with a smile. "I admire the way you operate Skull-san."

* * *

Impossible Man took a bite out of the apple he'd stolen as he strutted through the warzone. All around him soldiers were in a panic, scrounging around for bullets for their useless rifles. Titan touched down and began shooting the Nazis with precision. Impossible Man watched as Ares and Le Patriot ran through the gates to join him, with Nick Fury and Logan Howlett. The Human Torch leaped in, his SnowQueen flying above him. And then came the Exiles. Impossible Man walked towards them, and was slightly fazed when a yellow Hulk landed in front of him.

"Hulk Smash!" It yelled.

"Hey Hulk!" Impossible Man waved. The Hulk looked down with surprise. "Yeah, I was just walking around, minding my own business… when I heard those soldiers in the tower over there call your mother fat!"

Hulk yelled with rage and ran headlong into the armory, where soldiers were gathering in search of ammunition. They scrambled away from it however, when they saw the yellow monster charging towards them. Impossible Man took another smug bite of his apple, and walked towards the Exiles.

"There you are." Nova flew towards him. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"No." Impossible Man shrugged. "I'm trying to save the Avenger's collective lives."

"And how exactly are you doing that?" Nova asked. "Is this how a bodyguard acts?"

"Exactly." Impossible Man said. "Exactly. I'm not a bodyguard, I'm a thief. So, I changed the game to play by my rules."

Nova raised an eyebrow and landed. "Explain."

Impossible Man smiled. "You see, there are three elements to any job. First step: Infiltration. Most people would build this up to extreme measures, but in my experience it's the easiest step. I've just aided the Avenger's infiltration by opening the door. Second step; Securing the objective. Now, this is the fun step because the second step is actually interchangeable with; rendering the guards unable to effect the objective. Either way, step two is the point at which the guards retaliate, and the only chance of success is rendering the guards incapable of retaliating. This can be by making it so the guards don't know you're there, switching the objective so they think you haven't reached it yet and they concentrate on getting rid of you instead of retrieving the objective, or any other means. I have done this by stealing most of the bullets in the castle."

"Really?" Nova raised an eyebrow.

Impossible Man gave him a look that asked; 'hey, who are you talking to here'? "Yes, really. Note the Nazis foolishly trying to attack with their standard issue knives. Would they do this if they had any other way of attacking them? Now, as I was saying, the third step; making the escape with the objective. In this case, the objective is the Avengers. We have initiated step one, and made it part way through step two. What we need is to initiate step three; we need to get the Avengers out of this castle alive. Which is tricky, because they are intent on destroying the whole base, so our job is: A. To make the Avengers leave, by accomplishing their objective of disabling the Red Skull. And B. To ensure a way out."

"Look out!" Nova moved around Impossible man and punched a cannonball out of the sky. All around them on the walls, soldiers were manning turrets. Some of them shot modified cannonballs and others shot lasers. The Avengers were being bombarded.

"I thought you said you disarmed them!" Nova yelled at Impossible Man.

He gave an exasperated sigh and threw up his arms. "Well, I am soooooooo sorry that I only made sure none of you encountered any of those things in the moat, crippled the majority of the defenses and gained valuable information on the Red Skull's plans. No, no, don't thank me for any of that, I don't deserve it for deciding lugging around cannonballs wasn't a priority."

"We have to help them." Nova started to fly off, but Impossible Man grabbed his arms.

"No! Don't you see? That's just regular security. I know what how the Red Skull really plans to murder the Avengers. Look, they're handling it." The Avengers did indeed appear unaffected by the bombardment.

Nova glared at him. "If what you say is true, do you think the Avengers will be able to defend themselves from the turrets and Skull's plans at the same time?"

Impossible Man sighed. "Look, it's all part of the plan… you know what? Fine. Wisdom." He turned to Pete. "Do you have some sort of anti-turret spell?"

"I suppose so…" Pete nodded.

"Okay then." Impossible Man brushed some debris off his jacket. "Cast it, but only on the ones that handle cannonballs, not on the laser turrets."

"Why not the laser turrets?" Nova asked, as Pete cast his spell.

"I told you, I have a plan." Impossible Man said. "But you're going to have to trust me. Now, you each have your roles…"

"Black Archer isn't here." The Mask said. "Will that…"

"I know about Black Archer." Impossible Man said, impatiently. "Would you all stop interrupting me with these little details? Okay…" He took some papers out of his jacket. They were instructions, written on the Red Skull's personal stationary. "Rachel, you're going to be on objective B, making sure we have a way out of here."

She looked at the instructions on the paper he gave her. "But I can't…"

"Listen, I just assumed you had Namor the Sub-mariner's powers since you have the same last name as him. But if you'll keep reading I'm sure you'll find I accounted for all water-based powers and you can do what I'm asking you to do." He turned to the other three. "Now, Nova, Pete, and Mask, you will be on objective A, helping the Avengers raze this place. Here are your instructions. And before any of you ask any stupid questions, I only gave you what you needed to do. It may not make sense, but that's only because you're not looking at it from the right perspective."

"Is this…" Nova grinned. "You sly fox, are you doing what I think you're doing?"

"I hoped not." Impossible Man said. "Otherwise I might be doing what Skull thinks I'm doing."

A loud boom echoed through the canyon. The floor of the courtyard opened up, and seven figures rode an elevator up. "Greetings Avengers!" The Red Skull called. "Congratulations on managing to make it into my castle! But now you fall!" He gestured to the six people behind him. "Allow me to introduce to you, the Invaders! Allow me, to introduce to you, your doom!"

Impossible Man turned to the exiles. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get going!"

As the Exiles scattered, Impossible Man turned back to the Red Skull and the Invaders and took another bite out of his apple. "Here comes step two, right on schedule." He said, with a fond smile. "The game's afoot."


	6. Commandos, prt 5

**Chapter Six; Confidence**

**Commandos Part 5**

The Titan, Le Patriot and Ares fought back to back. The three of them had years of combat experience between them, and each was able to anticipate the other's moves, forming a perfect defense and offense. The plowed a straight line through the courtyard, Titan deflecting the lasers with his armor's shields, Ares knocking cannonballs out of the sky with one hand and mowing down troops with his other, and Le Patriot darting between them, stabbing at the enemy soldiers.

"Hey, their cannonfire just turned into smoke." Ares said, pointing out the inky fog coming out of the cannons.

"Must have been something to do with those Exiles." The Titan said. "To bad the lasers are still up and running."

Professor McCoy bounded across the rubble of the castle's entrance like a kangaroo, dodging grenades and pounding the Nazis who came at him with knifes. He had a natural physical brilliance to go with his mental brilliance. His fiancée covered him from the sky, where she flew like an angel.

"This is too easy." Nick fury said, running up to the Avengers. "We're creaming them. They're not even shooting at us, and now some of their cannons are shooting smoke."

"I'm not sure how Fury…" The Titan said. "But I think that those Exiles have something to do with it."

He looked over at them. They were gathered in a corner of the courtyard, not even fighting. The Impossible Man was passing them pieces of paper. "I don't know. They strike me as edgy."

Suddenly, a loud boom echoed through the castle. Two plates under the ground rose up on either side. An elevator rose up to fill the space, with the Red Skull on it along with several other colorful people. Fury swore as the Red Skull stepped forward. "Greetings Avengers!" He called. "Congratulations on managing to make it into my castle! But now you fall!" He gestured to the six people behind him. "Allow me to introduce to you, the Invaders! Allow me, to introduce to you, your doom!"

* * *

The Red Skull could see the fear in his opponent's eyes. And why shouldn't they? He had something for each of them. Le Patriot… how he dreamed of killing him himself. But first he would let the leader of the Invaders soften him. Break him. His name was Kurt Wagner, the son of a baron. He was a mutant, but before he'd read McCoy's work, when he'd just discovered the lad, he had assumed he was a demon. A demon sent to him to bring about the Nazi dream. The Skull dared to say he was a better swordsman than even Le Patriot, capable of wielding three swords at once and teleporting.

Ares… when he had first heard that a god had taken to the field, the Red Skull had been terrified. Ha, no he hadn't. He had been as close to being terrified as a sociopath could be, but he never felt true fear in his life. How do you kill a god? He did a little research. Ares had been wounded before on the plains of Troy with the aid of the goddess Athena. After the Red Skull began his own worship of Athena (when he had finished conquering this earth, he planned on conquering Olympus and making her his… heh… bride) he had his master stroke. How do you kill a god? Why, with a proven weapon of course. One of the Skull's favored mercenaries Crossbones had recently lost a hand to Le Patriot. After a raid on Hitler's occult collection (blamed on the Allies of course) Crossbones had a new hand. It was called Longinus. The spear of destiny.

Then the Titan. Easy enough to replicate with Zemo's work. A simple man in an iron suit. Codename; Goliath. But how do the suits measure up? The only way a field test could be arranged is if the two were to meet, and by the time the results got back the Titan could improve his own suit. So how does the one ensure victory over the other? Make it whole robot, not a human. Just give it the brain of one of the top soldiers of the army, and protect that brain. Less squishy bits inside. Goliath feels no pain, needs no food, and will not stop. He will keep coming. And he will win.

The Hulk. The Red Skull's one failure. As he was trying to discover the monster's upper limit of the creature's strength he found out too late that it had none. The resulting escape cost a lot of men, but hey, at least the Hulk got some Allies. Now he had perfected the monster. His new Hulk was capable of absorbing the kinetic energy of any attack, storing it up for his own attacks. The stronger their Hulk got, the stronger his Hulk got. And thus was his Hulk was unbeatable.

The last two. The Human Torch and the Snow Queen. Fire and Ice. Together, a nigh unbeatable combination. How did the brilliant Red Skull find a way to trump them? Simplicity in itself. When going against a human torch, you use a fireproof man. Preferably a man who'd been fire-proof via a blood transfusion with a lesser demon, also granting the man in question the power to create weapons out of nothing. Oh yes, the Human Torch would be extinguished. As for the Snow Queen, she was powerful. But not as intelligent as her husband. Her opponent was one of Zemo's most successful experiments yet. A telekinetic that could throw mountains around like dice. Of course, there was still the risk… the chance of failure with her. It was nigh impossible to stop the Snow Queen… if she had any brains at all. His opposite for her had been training for months for this encounter. He had… not faith… confidence. Yes, he had confidence in his warrior.

"We're ready for you Skull." Le Patriot said.

"You'll never defeat the Avengers." Nick Fury growled.

"I think that we will." The Red Skull sneered. "Each and every one of my Invaders has been designed to beat you Avengers into the ground."

"But you didn't count on me!" Nova said, to the Avenger's side. "You are going to lose this fight, and you are going to lose this war. Badly."

"Where's the rest of your team?" Fury asked under his breath.

"Impossible Man said he had a plan." Nova said. "I'm doing my part."

The Red Skull took in the situation. The newcomer had the ability to fly, and was wearing some sort of armor. He stood in a stance reminiscent of a boxer, yet loose, and leaning. He was used to fighting with his fists, but he was a smart one too. He could have handled the Avengers, but three others? He could pull it off, but it would be better if he found a way to rectify the odds. And then he saw it, climbing up the east wall.

The Red Skull signaled to Wagner. The mutant teleported over to the Impossible Man, bringing him back to the Skull. "Do you still think you have the upper hand?" He asked Nova.

Impossible Man grinned. "I never have the lower hand." He said. "Probably because I hide cards up my sleeve." Suddenly, the Red Skull couldn't see; something exploded and his eyes began to itch and he started coughing. When the smoke cleared the Impossible Man wasn't in his grip and the Avengers and the invaders were going at it.

The Impossible Man was leaning against the wall. "You really tried to threaten me with an empty gun?" He asked. "I know you have no ammo. I was the one who stole it, right from under your nose. You heard Nova. This fight is already over, you just don't know it."

"I think not." The Red Skull said. But he found himself curious and… yes, afraid. The same fear he felt when he had heard a god of war fought for his enemies, or that the Hulk he had turned on his foes had turned on him, or when he saw the cleanness and the precision of what the Patriot had done to Corssbone's arm. He wasn't afraid in any traditional sense, he was… doubtful of his ability to win. To overcome any obstacle presented to him. To be Aryan.

"You are their leader." The Skull said. There was no question in his voice. "As the Avengers look to Le Patriot, your comrades look to you."

"Nah." Impossible Man shrugged. "I mean… well… I'm the brains of the operation sure, but I can't help being the smartest man in the room."

The Red Skull realized something then; the Impossible Man had given him information about himself. Valuable information. Impossible Man's eyes were… like his own. He hadn't been studying him; they'd been studying each other. And the Impossible Man had already gathered enough information to know that revealing his intellect to the him wasn't a significant risk. Well, the Red Skull knew something about him too; he was not a fighter.

He drew his ornamental sword. He kept it sharp for Le Patriot, but this occasion was more pressing. "Attack."

The Avengers and the Invaders clashed together, and the Red Skull advanced on the Impossible Man. The Red Skull knew exactly how the fight behind him was going; he'd played it in his mind like a game of chess. All just a group of pawns. He was a king. And so was the man in front of him.

"You're wrong you know." The Impossible Man said as they circled.

"Wrong about what?" The Red Skull asked. He already knew. Asking was just a formality. A bit of banter to recognize the opponent.

"You're not going to win this."

The Skull lunged, and the Impossible Man and he swerved out of the way with more dexterity the Red Skull had thought possible from his foe. He took a device out of his jacket and launched a grappling hook and rope, pulling himself up and away.

The Red Skull grinned. This war would end today, one way or the other. But either way, he would have such fun. He pulled a communicator out of his belt. "Herr Zemo." The Skull said. "Have you done as I instructed?"

"Yes Herr Skull." Zemo said. "They are on their way as we speak."

"Very good. Now, activate contingency plan number twenty one."

* * *

When Nova fell into a supernova star, he was sure he was going to die. Instead, he'd been given a bigger responsibility than before. He was worried at first. When he first became Nove, he used it to fight crime in New York. Then, he'd escalated to saving the universe. And now he was supposed to save the multiverse? He'd give it his best shot, but could he handle this?

As he read the instructions the Impossible Man had given him, which simply told him to do what he would normally do and help the Avengers survive, he realized the answer was yes. Yes he could handle this.

According to the Impossible Man, the Red Skull had the Invaders roster perfectly filled to defeat the Avengers. His job was to not let that happen. But Impossible Man had other plans for what looked like this alternate universe's version of Nightcrawler fighting Le Patriot, so he wasn't allowed to interfere with that. But anybody else was free game. Also, if possible, he had to steer the fight into a section of the castle courtyard. He didn't know why, but he could guess.

The Avengers clashed against the Invaders, and almost immediately the Invaders seemed to get the upper hand. Nova help the Hulk by holding down his foe so he could beat him, but that only seemed to make him stronger, and he threw Nova off. Suddenly, a blast came from behind him. He turned and a squad of five men in black space suits ran up to him firing lasers.

* * *

The Mask crept down the lower corridors of the base. She shuddered at how eerily this fit her M.O. Could the Impossible Man really have guessed that this would be the perfect assignment for her, or did he have to give it to her because everybody else already had their jobs? And if the former is true… could there really be somebody smarter than her?

She glanced the slip of paper in her hand the Impossible Man had given her. It was a detailed map of the castle's lower levels, with notes on how to perfectly position the C4 he'd given her. Now that she was down here for herself, she could see what he had planned. It unnerved her a little that somebody could come up with a plan like this.

She turned invisible as Baron Zemo rushed past her and opened some containment tubes. Five men in black suits stepped out. Zemo yelled at them to go attack… something. She wasn't up to par on her German studies. As he left, she looked at the labels on the control panel. Those men were a black ops squad for… alien invasion?

"Well, this is quite the set up you have here." Said a voice behind her. She stiffened as she realized it was talking to her, and that it wasn't a German accent, but Russian. "I'm impressed Ms. Stark. You've opened up whole new worlds of possibilities for me. Thank you."

She turned around. "You." She said with a chill.


	7. Commandos, prt 6

**Chapter Seven; End Game**

**Commandos Prt 6**

In the early days of the cold war, Tony Stark was the head of the space program. His rival on the other side of the curtain was a man named Ivan Kragoff.

Eventually, the two were squaring off. On the day that the Russians announced a manned mission to the moon, Nasa announced their own manned flight. The two flights were to take place on the same day. The Cold War was to be decided on the flight of two geniuses.

Tony Stark himself was the leading astronaut on the flight. He insisted, because nobody else would be able to trouble-shoot his engines. Piloting the ship was James Rhodes, the first colored astronaut. And along for the ride was his crypto zoologist girlfriend Nicolle Fury and Jojo the chimp.

But the Red Ghost sabotaged them.

For a brief moment, the Red Ghost's space ship and Stark's were side by side. The Red Ghost had arranged it that way, just so he could point out of the window and mock Stark as his engines failed and he began to crash back to earth.

Thankfully, in that brief moment, the Red Ghost's rockets failed too, bombarded with cosmic radiation. He didn't triumph over Tony Stark that day. And when he realized that his crew was instilled with fantastic powers, Stark vowed he never would.

But he never stopped trying. Not even on Stark's baby girl.

"How are you here?" The Mask asked. The pair of them circled, each looking for an opening.

"You left the door open." The Red Ghost said. "Didn't your Timebroker tell you I slipped through?"

The Mask hesitated. Timebroker had told her to close the gate so nobody else could get through. He should have known that Red Ghost got through. He should have warned her.

Ivan charged as she thought to herself. Without even noticing, she nimbly leaped out of the way and launched a mid-air flying kick. He blocked it, and threw her into a wall. She phased through, landing gently like her mother taught her. She ran back through the wall at him, but he was waiting for her with an outstretched arm. She ran right into it, clotheslining herself. She barely managed to teleport a shot distance away before his fist made a crater where her head used to be.

"You'd follow me across dimensions just to kill me?"

"Little girl." Ivan smiled. "It is saddening that still you underestimate me. I would cross the multiverse to kill you. But that is the least I would do. I would spread this cancer, reshape it in my image, and kill every version of you and your pathetic father."

The Mask froze. She really hated when she underestimated the Red Ghost.

She was so busy being caught up by him being here that she'd forgotten Impossible Man's plan. She didn't know all of it, but from what she could tell in her part of it, it seemed like a good plan. She had to prep the explosives.

A tiny robot with little tentacles emerged from her cape with a stick of plastique. The Red Ghost took out his signature gun and shot at the Mask. She phased on instinct, only to realize too slowly that he was expecting her to do so and he was aiming for her sneakbot.

"No, none of that." The Red Ghost smiled. She hated when he smiled.

* * *

Titan punched through the metal man's armor, and tore the engine out of his chest cavity. "My armor was designed by Reed Richards!" He said. "Who built you, you pile o' scraps?" He punched the robot's head off.

The Japanese diplomat removed his shirt. The dragon tattoo underneath began to glow with a fierce energy. He shouted "HAI! Metal Man!" That caught the Titan's attention. He ran forward.

"Oh you want a piece of me?" Titan clanged his metal fists together. "You wanna see if you can tackle the Titan!"

Nova had one of the jetpack men in a headlock, when he looked over to see what was happening with the Titan. He instantly recognized the tattoo. "Titan! No!"

The man's fist glowed with green energy, and as his fist met Titan's, the armor around it disintegrated.

Titan withdrew his fist, and looked at the bare skin with shock.

Nova gritted his teeth. The iron fist was going for a combo attack. He used the Nova Force to hack into Titan's armor systems, and set his shields to max.

The Japanese man landed a flurry of blows against the shields, finishing it off with a kick. The blows were negated by the shields, but the kick sent him flying, crashing into the ruins of the fallen tower. Titan got up again, breastplate dented and energy core cracked but alive. "Caught me by surprise." Titan grunted. "I've got a surprise for you too!" Four miniature missile shot out of titan's shoulder. Titan's adversary plucked two of them out of the air, then kicked the other two.

Nova tore the jetpack off of the last nazi, and threw him away. This fight wasn't going well. The Avengers were fairing poorly against the Invaders. Crossbones and Ares were virtually neck-and-neck equals, but the Patriot was sporting multiple gashes against an unharmed Nightcrawler, and the Hulk was beginning to move slower, more dazed. Hank and Janet were holding out well, but they were slowly giving ground.

Nova had one job to do; keep the Avengers from dying. He was failing.

Impossible Man had told him to direct the fight towards the base of the collapsed tower. He thought that maybe he would teleport them out, but he was busy fighting the Red Skull. He couldn't possibly teleport them with any accuracy. And he didn't have any powers and he didn't look like he was carrying a teleporter on him.

Regardless, he had to see it through to protect the Avengers.

Patriot looked like he was the one in most danger. He flew towards Nightcrawler. It hurt that he had to fight him, but he reminded himself this wasn't the fun loving imp he was friends with in his home dimension.

Of course, he was about as skilled. Kurt saw him coming, and teleported out of the way. Nova flew right into the Invader's Hulk, breaking his fist.

* * *

The wind whipped around Pete Wisdom as he climbed up the ladder. A pair of Nazi stood at the top, and the tried to stomp his fingers. He dodged, struggling to keep his fingers one step ahead of the soldiers. He reach up, grabbing one of them by the legs and pulling. The two of the fell off the edge together, but the Nazi spun around and grabbed a hold of the ledge by his fingertips. Pete crawled up the soldier's leg, stealing his knife on the way up. He heaved himself over the annoyed soldier's head, stabbing the other one's leg. He pulled himself over the edge, kicking the soldier he'd used as a ladder in the face and throwing the other one off the side.

He took a moment to catch his breath, then went on with the mission. Pete really preferred charming his way through the enemies' girls to running around like this.

* * *

The Red Skull lead a simple life.

He was once a humble bellhop working in a hotel where Hitler was staying. He was angry at one of his lieutenants, and in a fit of rage pointed to the first person to enter the room – him – and exclaim that he could turn this bellhop into a better Nazi than the lieutenant.

He didn't boast in vain. Two years later, and a few experiments that went horribly right, the Red Skull was born.

He didn't know whether it was the training that made him a monster, or whether he would turn out to be a monster regardless. But he did know, that he was taught swordplay by the master himself, and eventually killed the man.

So how was this ordinary man besting him without even a weapon!

The Impossible Man was practically dancing around him. He must have metal in his sleeves to be able to deflect the Red Skull's sword like he was doing.

"I was expecting this you know." The Skull said through gritted teeth.

"You were expecting to lose?" The Impossible Man asked. "You're smarter than I was led to believe."

In frustration, the Red Skull lashed out. The Impossible Man danced around and deflected his sword through the two soldier arming a cannon.

The Red Skull became enraged, but he hid it. It would not do to show this man weakness. "No, I foresaw that this base would come under attack. It was I who let the Allied spies slip through my net."

"Well, letting things slip through your fingers seems to be the only thing you're good for." The Impossible Man let out a sharp kick… but it wasn't directed at the Red Skull. It was directed at the Cannon. It flipped around and fired. The Cannon inside it turned into a thick smokescreen as it left the barrel.

The Red Skull opened up all of his senses… and heard nothing. He snarled and sliced through the smoke. When it cleared there was nobody.

The Red Skull yelled with rage. He knew the Impossible Man was playing him… but this was too much! How could one man, one pathetic man, defeat him!

Then he remembered his earlier theory.

Invisibility.

The voice from the shadows, the Russian voice, it had told him that the Impossible Man was just a man. But that was clearly not the case. No ordinary man could do this. He was hiding, invisibly…

And the Red Skull smiled, knowing he had the upper hand.

"Of course, your Allied sensibilities could not comprehend this." He said. "You see a castle stocked with weapons and you see a target, stocked to overflowing with precious weapons to use against us. The cleverer ones see a trap, and send in only the best, those who can turn an enemies' trap into a trap of their own."

"But none of you consider… it is beyond your grasp to imagine… that I would expect the best, that I would expect them to come and fight, and that for their deaths I would sacrifice all of my secret weapons, all of my soldiers, and all of the indispensible weapons in this castle, I cast away as I would a cheap gun."

"The bombers are on their way here as we speak."

A slight intake of air. A slight shimmer in the morning sky. The Red Skull's blade struck true.

"Invisibility." He smiled. "A joke. You will die along with the other Avengers."

The figure on the ground shimmered into full view as he clasped his wound.

But… he looked a great deal more feminine than he did just moments ago. And… blue?

"You…" His eyes went wide. "Wagner's shapeshifting mother!"

She smiled and her yellow eyes flashed. "I left you alone because you treated my son with respect. 'All of the indispensible weapons in this castle, I cast away as I would a cheap gun?" She parroted the Skull's voice perfectly. "My son is the only reason I haven't killed you. How indispensible is he now?"

She pulled a radio out of a pocket in her skin. "Impossible." She said. "The Skull has bombers on the way. Whatever you're about to do, do it fast."

The Red Skull roared. He'd been duped! He'd been tricked into fighting this… this girl! While the true Impossible Man roamed his castle freely!

He turned to run… to find him… but the blue woman turned her arms into swords, her wound healed, and attacked.

* * *

The Mask still couldn't get past the Red Ghost.

She unleashed a swarm of sneakbots. She directed half of them to attack the Red Ghost and the other half to retrieve the plastique. The Red Ghost looked slightly annoyed, but ignored the sneakbots trying to distract him and kept up fire on the others.

The Mask couldn't hit him. He was the one person she couldn't hit. So she spun her cape around, trying to shield them from his view and protect him from his gun. He just ran through her.

One last sneakbot. She threw caution to the wind and unphased. The shot felt like a rod was being jammed into her leg.

"Impressive." The Red Ghost gloated. "Is this the first time you've ever felt the pain of being shot? How fragile you are. Your father would be ashamed."

The Mask made a show of being hurt. She just wanted him to keep talking. To keep focusing on her so that her sneakbot could retrieve the explosives…

She spun around in panic as she recieved a signal from her sneakbot.

The Red Ghost followed her line of sight with a concerned look. "Where are the explosives your little robot dropped?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." The Impossible Man stepped out of the shadows. "We're going to have to run a bit ahead of schedule, so seeing as you're busy I set them up myself. And as for you Ms. Mask, when this is over we're going to have to talk about the fact that you have a bunch of little robots, and since this man wasn't here during my night-time reconnaissance I'll assume he's your responsibility too?"

"Ha! Clever man! Know that you stand before Ivan –"

"Kragoff, the Red Ghost, I know." O'Grady brushed some dirt of his sleeve. "Listen, I don't have time to deal with you right now. So just ghost your way out of here before the places blows. Even if you're not effected by the explosions themselves, my bombs tend to give off quite a bit more heat than you can phase through. You'll get second degree burns at least."

Ivan aimed his laser at the Impossible Man's head. "The Red Ghost fears no pain! Can the same be said for…" He winced as the Mask dealt a karate chop to the back of his neck, than kicked his knees out from under him.

"On the other hand." He tore open his sleeve revealing… a Tallus.

The Red Ghost blinked out into the multiverse.

"Well." The Impossible Man rolled the apple core around in his hand. "Now we have an arch-enemy. How fun. Nevertheless, am I right in assuming you can teleport, or is it just invisibility?"

Mask was surprised. "T-teleporting." She tried to stand, but her leg was shot.

"Here." O'Grady supported her. "It's almost time for the final phase. I hope you have a few jumps left in you."

"Impossible Man…" Mask tried to think of a nice way to say what she was thinking. "I don't think your plan will work. The explosives will only be wired to a pair of support columns. But there are more. And even if we took all five of them out…"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." O'Grady smiled. "You're not the only one with explosives."

* * *

Rachel set the final bomb. "Finally." She brushed some hair out of her eyes.

She turned around. The moat was filled with all manner of monstrosities. All dead now, blood mixing in with the water. "Well?" She asked. "Anything else feel like going for a bite?"

A low growl and a yellow eye was the response. She smiled grimly.

* * *

_Avenge us!_

_Destroy them! _

_For Freedom!_

_Death to the Nazis!_

_All I ever wanted was to meet the Red Skull…_

Peter Wisdom couldn't get the dead to keep quiet. The Red Skull had killed a lot of his own men. Some were Ally sympathizers, most were just standing next to him when he decided that there had been too few deaths that day.

He took charge of the laser cannon. There were only two more mounted on the castle, and he took them out quickly. Then he turned its sights to the middle of the courtyard.

The band of heroes was fighting. And losing. Patriot and Titan were unconscious. Nova was holding back the man who had the Iron Fist. Ares and Crossbones were bleeding profusely, but neither looked like they were slowing down or gaining ground. The insane Nazi Nightcrawler had Fury and Wolverine by the throats.

Wisdom recalled his part in the plan and cast his spell.

It was a simple augmentation spell. He loved augmentation spells. He could transform things, and he could fight things, and he could hurl fireballs with the best of them. But he loved the elegance and cunning it took to take something and make it suit to his own purpose.

And right now, that purpose was an instant cure for insomnia.

He fired at the laser and struck dead-on. All of the fighters collapsed to the ground.

* * *

"Hah!" The Red Skull gloated. "All of your men have taken leave of their consciousness. And look, there are the bombers now!"

As Mystique turned to look at the horizon, the Red Skull ran her through again, than twice more for good measure. She was a better blade than he, and a shapeshifter. He would take no chances.

Her eyes grew wet. "You monster." She whispered.

"Be that as it may." He bowed politely. "I am a victorious monster."

The bombers soared overhead, preparing to drop their bombs…

When the castle below them exploded of its own accord.

The entire front wall of the fortress crashed away. Water from the moat rushed in as a giant wave, ridden on by a pointy-ears girl and her steed.

"For Atlantis!" She cried, and the crocodile-with-a-head-of-a-Mako-shark-that-had-jellyfish-tentacles-for-a-tonuge-set she was riding on gave out a roar of triumph.

The bombers looked at each other with raised eyebrows through their cockpits.

* * *

"Coordinates set!" The Impossible Man yelled. "Take us out of here!"

As the wall of water and mutant corpses rushed through the sub-levels towards them, the Mask pulled her cape around the Impossible Man and the both vanished.

Baron Zemo's teleporting device retrieved the Avengers and Invaders from their coordinates, and sent them where the Impossible Man wanted them to go, an instant before the wave hit.

* * *

The Red Skull watched in horror as the Avengers and Invaders disappeared before his eyes.

"What just happened?" He asked.

Mystique grinned. "It looks like the Impossible Man fulfilled his end of the bargain and get my son to safety. We're going down together Herr Skull."

"That won't be necessary madam." The Impossible Man appeared behind her, and pulled her close as Mask. "Thank you for your services. Oh, and Skull?" He tossed and apple core at the Nazi. "Checkmate."

The threesome disappeared, and the Red Skull was left shaking, holding the apple core.

"You loathsome, foul, wretched man!" He screamed. "I swear I will hunt you down! Your children's children's children will never forget the Nazis, and will ever shudder at the mention of the Red – hurk!" And arrow pierced straight through the apple core and into the Red Skulls heart.

* * *

The Golden Archer lowered his bow where he stood, on a distant hillside surrounded by unconscious superheroes and villains. "Very classy signal O'Grady. Very William Tell. Nice."

* * *

The Red Skull gurgled as blood spilled out of his mouth. "I… will… return…"

Then the second waves of explosions hit, and the castle collapsed in on itself.

The bombers got on their radios. "Hey, that castle looks pretty destroyed. Should we waste the bombs on it?"

"Are you kidding? We got our orders from the Red Skull. You tell him why you didn't want to follow his orders."

And so, the last thing the Red Skull saw was a big fat bomb falling straight towards him as he fell to his death. And the last thing he heard was his own voice, silently cursing.


	8. The Secret Invasion Prt 1

**Chapter Eight; New Avengers**

**The Secret Invasion Prt 1**

Mystique took her unconscious son, and thanked Impossible Man. Then she left the Exiles on the hill overlooking the ruined Nazi fortress, with the Avengers shaded under a tree.

"That was a pretty risky plan." Nova said. "Do you have any idea how many ways that could go wrong?"

The Impossible Man thought about it for a moment. "About forty-seven different ways I think… yeah."

Nove checked with the Worldmind and discovered that he could only come up with forty six different ways that the plan could have misfired. "So, why didn't you think of an easier plan?"

"Because." He smiled. "I only got into the burglary business for the fun of it. After the Avengers caught us, it significantly decreased my options, so I went with the fun ones."

"The fun ones?" Archer asked.

"Yeah. I mean, look at me. I used up all of my dynamite. Seriously, that was amazing! And maybe it was risky. That's why I got Archer her on standby, that's why I gave you and Pete vague instructions, that's why I had mystique impersonate me so I could slip anywhere I wanted and help you out as need be. I had a plan, but the Red Skull's pretty smart, so I but failsafes in place and I was lucky enough to not need some of them."

"Guys." Rachel said. "The Tallus is blinking."

"What is with that freakish gator thing?" Archer asked.

"I'm naming him Chomps!" Rachel said, patting the creature's head with a smile. Chomps grinned too, showing off his four rows of giant teeth.

"Still, the next time we go on a mission, could you try and make your plans over how effective they are instead of how fun they are?" Nova asked.

"No. I don't think I will. It's just so much fun."

"We're trying to save the world here." Nova said. "No, we're trying to save every world. We're trying to save the multiverse. I don't think it's out of line to expect that we take this seriously."

"Oh, I'm taking it seriously. I'm just taking my entertainment seriously too. Don't worry, it wouldn't be nearly so fun trying to save the world if we failed."

"Am I supposed to… to push a button?" Rachel looked at the blinking Tallus inquisitively.

"Here let me see it." Peter took her arm and examined the device.

"What's really interesting is Ms. Mask's mysterious stranger."

"The what?"

"My old nemesis slipped through the portal and came after me. He almost cost us the mission."

The Worldmind filled in the other missing way the plan could have failed. "Who is he?"

"He's my universe's Red Ghost."

"Why didn't the Timebroker tell us about him?"

Pete Wisdom pressed something on the Tallus, and it beam of bright light engulfed the team. "WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN –"

The team fell on the floor in the control room of the M'Kraan crystal. "Don't push any more buttons." Archer advised.

"Welcome back." The Timebroker strode forward. "Your mission was a qualified success."

"Qualified?" The Nova asked.

"What's with the Qualified?" Archer scoffed. "We came, we saw, we trounced that redheaded $*# all the way to Berlin and back.

"Exactly." The Timebroker said. "Your mission was –"

"Chomps!" Rachel shot upright. "Where's Chomps!"

The Timebroker looked at her inquisitively. "The abomination you call Chomps has been left on Earth –"

"Why didn't he come with us?"

"He is not a member of the team, and therefore not attuned to the Tallus."

"So?"

The Timebroker sighed, and with a flash of light the crocodile beast from chilren's nightmares appeared in the crystal. "There you are Chomps!" Rachel hugged the beast, who wagged its enormous tail and grinned, showing off its many, many teeth.

"As I was saying." The Timebroker continued. "Your mission was to keep the Avengers from death. You instead elected to destroy their target and kill an enemy who was supposed to continue challenging them long into the future. At best you prolonged the stagnation of their world, but I had to send in another team to clean up your mess."

"The Exiles are supposed to fix a wound in the multiverse… a wound caused by interference in the alternate reality star. You Exiles are to interfere in only the most minimal way possible… to keep the inhabitants of the otherworlds from being aware of your existence at all if possible. Yes, you saved the Avengers. But you also took lives that would have otherwise live on, informed a prominent scientist of the possibility of the multiverse, and fought what would have been one of the turning points of war in their world practically by yourself."

Even the Impossible Man looked a little embarrassed.

"So… no killing?" The Black Archer asked.

"No killing. No informing others of your existence. No interfering with large scale events on a large scale. Stay in the background. In short, never involve yourself in somebody else's story."

"Alright. Deal." Nova said. "This was our first time, and we made mistakes. It won't happen again."

"Good." The Timebroker said. "Many heroes have died across the multiverse. You were chosen specifically for this route towards the center of the infection. Substandard performance will not tempt me to send you back to your own worlds."

"Substandard…" The Impossible Man hissed. He glared at the Timebroker.

"Your next assignment…"

"Woah, woah, woah." Nova said. "What about the Red Ghost?"

Masque nodded. "My old nemesis followed me through the portal. Why didn't you tell me before you shut it down?"

"That situation is in hand." The Timebroker said.

"How is it in hand?" Masque asked. "You didn't pick me, I wandered in. There's no reason I shouldn't be on his case instead of with this team."

"That situation is in hand." The Timebroker repeated.

"Then why did he have a Tallus?" The Impossible Man asked.

The Timebroker paused. "You will now be sent to your next mission. Please try to stay in the shadows this time."

"Now wait a minute…" Before the Impossible Man could protest further, there was a flash of light and the seven of them were standing on a rooftop overlooking New York.

"Substandard!" Impossible Man said. "The gall of him!"

"He did have a point." Nove said. "After all, your 'bring the fortress down around the Red Skull's ears' scheme was almost impossibly unworkable."

"But it worked!" The Impossible Man yelled. "If you're so sure of yourself, why don't you come up with a plan this time around."

"Maybe I will." Nova didn't say it out of spite. He was well aware that the Impossible Man was smart. But his genius was restricted to thievery, and hampered by his thrill seeking. He could lead the team better than the Impossible Man. "What's the mission?" He asked.

Rachel checked the Tallus. "It says… 'Stop Dormammu's invasion into this dimension'."

"I've got this one." Pete grinned. "You have no idea how many times I've had to stop Dormammu's incursion into this reality. The first step to prevention would be finding out who wants to do the summoning. If we knew that, it would be an instant win. Does the Tallus know who's going to summon him?"

Rachel gave him a somewhat blank look, and pushed random buttons on the Tallus. "Um… I don't think it does."

"Alright then. That's okay. I have a simple spell that will show us where he is. Does anybody have a compass?"

"My suit has an internal compass." Nova said. "Will that help?"

Pete considered it. "I think it will, I've cast the spell on a bird before. Alright." He took out a strip of parchment and a knife. Pricking his finger, he wrote something in a language so old that the Worldmind couldn't translate it.

When he finished, the parchment disappeared in a puff of smoke, and nova heard an irritating buzzing in the back of his mind. "It's… north. He's north somewhere. Northwest."

"Hey!" Rachel said. "We're over a pet store!"

After waiting for Rachel to buy Chomps a collar and leash, the Exiles headed across the New York skyline. They all seemed quite proficient in roof hopping.

*BOOM*

"Nova, is the compass spell pointing you in the direction of that explosion?"

"Yes."

"Excellent!" The Impossible Man crowed.

"We're staying out of sight." Nova said sternly.

"Unless they're trying to summon Dormammu." Pete corrected. "Then we'll have to intervene."

"I don't think that's likely." Masque said. "After all, last time the Tallus put us in place a full day before the Avengers were in trouble."

They made it to the roof of a tall building, and watched from a distance as a pair of giants strode through the Hudson. They approached a pair of freight receivers and began lifting containment units off of them, emptying what looked like tons of gold into their bags.

"There's a man down there with a white gorilla costume." The golden Archer said. "Any chance he's our magic man?"

"No." Nova said. "The buzzing's coming from somewhere else. It's getting closer."

Suddenly, Something emerged from the ocean. A head with a blue mask, with wings on the side.

Rachel stared. "Oh… my…"

Captain America stood at his full height of eighty feet tall.

One of the giants dropped his bag of ill gotten gains and took his sword out. The two titans clashed in the Hudson, shield against sword.

"Look." The Golden Archer pointed. There was another explosion, and the gorilla man flew away from one of the crates.

"You're not getting any of your hands on the vibranium or the gold Man-Ape!" A deep voice yelled. "Avengers! Assemble!"

And so the Avengers appeared. The man who yelled was presumably Thor, although he didn't wear a cape or a helmet, he wore goggles and his hammer was much larger. Next to him was somebody who looked like a female version of Iron Man, but wearing a cape. Behind them was somebody who looked like the Thing, but with red rocky skin.

The giant who wasn't fighting the giant Captain America roared in pain as the Scorpion of all people leaped on top of the containment unit he was picking up and stung his hand. As the giant dropped the unit, the Scorpion ran up his arm and towards his face, only to be brushed aside by a titanic hand. It didn't matter though, as the Scorpion landed unharmed on a nearby crane and the giant was set upon by Banshee and somebody who looked like the Scarlet Witch, but with a black cloak.

Man-Ape shot a blast of energy at the Iron Woman and Thor. The Thing grabbed him and they began to wrestle, but the Thing was at a clear disadvantage as the Man-Ape used the hands on his feet to great effect.

Captain America threw a mighty punch at one of the giants and he collided with a giant forced back by Banshee's screams. The Scarlet Witch threw a lasso of energy around the giants and they both vanished.

Pete whistled. "Wow. She just unsummoned a pair of titans."

Man-Ape threw the Thing into a containment unit, and did something with his staff. A solid block of vibranium shot out of the unit, and used it to block a repulser ray blast from Iron Woman. But Thor tossed Mjollnir at the unit he was standing on. Electricity ran across the crate and the Man-Ape froze, paralyzed as the electricity ran through the crate. The Thing got up and deliver a final, stunning haymaker across the Man-Ape's jaw and tore his staff from him as he collapsed.

The fight was over, and the Avengeres were putting the gold back where they found it. Nova gulped. "I don't know… it's vague…" He pointed. "One of them. One of the Avengers plans on unleashing Dormammu."

The Golden Archer stared, slack jawed. "Well, %#$."


End file.
